Gate 82. Classified Rank A.
Monsters: lizard-like creatures with two elemental power(fire and earth). With the size of bigger than a truck, they can also spew poison.
11 people had entered that gate at 11:23 AM.
Currently, it's 3:13 PM.
The officers, or rather. Scavengers. Were sitting on the benches near the gate.
"It's been a whole day and more, when are they coming out? They have an S-Ranker with them, right?"
One of he spoke up. He was getting worried about the team. Normally, from experience, a team with an S-Ranker would have cleared the dungeon in 5 to 6 hours.
While this team had an S-Ranker, three A-Rankers, seven B-Rankers. It was supposedly an overkill team.
But.... The time told some other tale.
A low hum buzzed from the gate's swirling surface — that eerie shimmer between dimensions, like reality holding its breath.
No alerts. No system ping. No emergency signal.
Just silence.
The scavengers didn't speak again for a while. Their job was to wait. Pick up the pieces. Retrieve the loot if any was left... or identify corpses if things went bad.
And right now? Things were smelling real bad.
"Maybe… the Gate's just bigger than expected?" another tried, voice shaky. "Could be a hidden boss? Or terrain issues—?"
"Stop coping," grunted the oldest among them, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "You've seen Rank A gates before. They don't take this long."
He exhaled smoke and stared at the gate like it owed him answers.
Then — a flicker.
A ripple. Barely a shift in the gate's glow.
The officers stood. Tension snapped into place like wires pulled tight.
One of them stepped forward, hand on his radio.
Something… was coming out.
And it wasn't walking. It was crawling.
Bloodied. Armor cracked and half-melted. A B-Ranker — they recognized the girl. Name: Han Mira. Support-type. Not a frontliner.
Her face was ghost-white, eyes wide and unfocused.
"Help.…" she rasped, collapsing into their arms.
"Where's the rest of your team?!" someone shouted, already pulling out potions.
"Harin...she sacrificed herself..." She voice was already low to begin with but the moment she said that, it echoed in that dark alley.
Immediately after, a group of hunters came out. Gasping, panting.... almost dying.
There were seven of them. Six of which the B-Rankers. Completing the B-Ranker group with Han mira. The man with the most injures was an A-Ranker. He had came escorting everyone. But before he could utter a single word, he fainted on the spot.
"H-hey! What about the others?!" one of the officers spoke.
The girl with a compound bow replied, her expression horrified.
"The two A-Rankers died. Only Harin… was left behind. She's still in danger. Please… call for backup..."
But before the officer could respond—
The gate shook.
Not a tremble. A pulse.
Like something from within had just roared — but the sound never reached their ears. It was pressure. A wave. The kind that made your knees buckle even when your brain didn't understand why.
The scavengers flinched.
And then—
Harin stepped out.
No fanfare. No dramatic light. Just slow, dragging steps as she emerged through the rippling veil of the gate.
Her armor was cracked at the shoulder. Burned at the waist. She was carrying a giant sword over one shoulder — chipped, glowing faintly with residual heat. Her other hand was clenched around something.
A head.
Scorched. Reptilian. Eyes still glowing dimly.
It hit the ground with a dull, heavy thud.
Everyone stared.
The gate behind her fizzled… then closed.
Gate 82 — cleared.
She looked around at the stunned officers and barely conscious hunters, then let out a low breath.
"…Did Mira make it?" she asked.
"She did," someone managed to say. "So did the others. They told us—"
"That I was still inside?" Harin gave a soft chuckle. "Guess I was… fashionably late."
She took two more steps forward.
Then her knees gave out.
One of the scavengers caught her before she hit the ground.
"Get her a healer!" The guy shouted. "Now!"
Harin gradually closed her eyes. Resting..
----
At the same time, there was a big problem. A very big problem.
Jinwoo had spent all his money. The 40 mil from before plus the 10 mil he had earned.
"I didn't even get anything.!! I only bought a night, ate dinner and bought some clothes."
He was jumping round and round on his soft feathery bed of the sky-glass top room. He had ate a dinner worth about 30 mil won. His room was filled with random expensive clothes lying around.
Hmm. Sure, you didn't spend much. Jinwoo.
"Aghh!! I am not even getting any commissions!"
Flipping around his bed he grabbed his phone and check the current news.
!?
"W..what!?"
The headline glared back at him in bold crimson letters:
"S-Ranker Harin Clears Gate 82 Alone — Survives Catastrophic Mission"
His eyes darted across the screen, skimming fast.
> '...Two A-Rankers dead. Six B-Rankers heavily injured. One S-Rank hunter, Harin, confirmed to have cleared the Rank A Gate single-handedly. Witnesses claim she emerged carrying the head of the mutated boss monster. Experts suspect the Gate underwent a late-phase evolution, potentially nearing S-Rank classification.'
> 'Survivor Han Mira confirms: "Harin saved us all. She stayed behind when everything went wrong. She didn't even hesitate."'
Jinwoo's jaw dropped.
"…She solo'd an A-Rank Gate…?"
He tossed the phone on the bed and sat up straight.
"No, wait—actually, good news! If she just solo'd a gate, that means she's trending. And if she's trending, then I—!"
He quickly opened his DMs.
Still no commission requests. No new followers. No fan mail.
"…Why isn't there any request?!"
"... Should i...also clear a gate?.. but soloing? That's a death sentence. I am only A-Ranker. I don't think I will be able to solo a B-rank gate, let alone the A-Ranker one..."
His phone pinged. A notification, of his slav- friend.
[Hyunsoo]
Hey, did you see the news? Harin just cleared a whole ass dungeon alone.
[You]
Why are you concerned about this? Should you be in the forest training for your sword?
[Hyunsoo]
Well, she's kinda cool. I mean she's so young and is so strong.
[You]
That's my sister, you b*stard.
[Hyunsoo]
What?! Your sis was harin? Wait now that I think about it. Yeah, park jinwoo and park harin. No. But there are many parks in korea.
[You]
Don't ever think about that again, or i will sell you to the association.
[Hyunsoo]
Is your sis single?
[You have blocked this contact]
Jinwoo threw his phone across the bed with a flump, groaning as he buried his face into the ridiculously soft pillow.
"Why is everyone around me a freak of nature?" he mumbled, voice muffled. "First Harin, now even Hyunsoo's trying to be a main character."
The ceiling stared back at him with all the judgment of a disappointed parent.
He lay there for a minute. Then two.
Then—
Ding!
Another notification. This time from his system.
> [SYSTEM NOTICE]
New Gate Registered Nearby.
Rank: B
Location: Seongnam Station – Underground Parking Lot
Special Condition: Solo Entry Only
Reward Multiplier: x2
Bonus Objective: Clear Time Under 2 Hours
"…Solo. Entry. Only."
Jinwoo sat up so fast he pulled a muscle in his neck.
"Ow—okay, no, wait, hold on— hold on."
His brain kicked into overdrive. Solo. B-Rank. Double rewards? That's 20 mil minimum, maybe more with the bonus. That's enough for a new suit and another luxury dinner.
"Alright," he muttered, eyes shining with desperate resolve. "Time for my main character arc. No sister of mine's gonna hog all the headlines."
He leapt off the bed—
Tripped over a designer hoodie—
And faceplanted.
"…Starting after I stop being a walking L."
---
The next day, he was standing with a hawaii shirt and pitch black pants. On his one hand was a nothing, the other was also empty.
With nothing but drip, he entered the blue mist.
The world once again changed its shape, jinwoo blinked. Once, twice. Then opened his eyes. Just to find something surprising-no. Horrifying.
He saw his body standing. But why? Why was his body limping while his head was on the ground.?
Yes, jinwoo has died.
The end